Theatricals By Michael S. Walker

There was Rumpelstiltskin
Me playing the titular character
You the miller’s daughter
And every one of our parents’ friends was subjected
After cards
To that fairytale torture
And Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Played on the backyard patio
Six or seven groundlings left unterrified
Lights from a 35mm slide projector
So many theatricals
So many escapades
We pimped a living room couch
Turned it into our Batmobile
And from suburban Gotham
Turbined away
Or straightened up the family room
Until it served
As the bridge
Of the starship Enterprise
Me, Captain Kirk of course
And you all the red-shirted officers
So many theatricals
So many summer days
Curtain calls
Among the effervescing
Fireflies
I would come up from reading
Bored out of my skull and say
We should put on such and such
And you would say
OK.